


The Story of Us

by I_Write_Midnight_Snacks



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AU, Abuse, Adoption, Angst, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Past Child Abuse, This is an AU, de-aged yurio, mentions of violence and abuse, orphan victor, trigger warning, victor and yuuri are amazing parents and they really do their best, yurio suffers a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 18:59:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8765179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Write_Midnight_Snacks/pseuds/I_Write_Midnight_Snacks
Summary: If there had been one thing Yuri had learned in his life, it was that everything always came with a price.
Yuri!!! on Ice AU where Yurio had never received any love, and Viktor and Yuuri have more than enough love to offer.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone~
> 
> Please keep in mind that this is, in fact, an AU, and so several things are different than they were in canon, ranging from back-stories to ages.  
> Yurio - 10 yo  
> Yuuri - 25 yo  
> Viktor - 28 yo
> 
> This is partially beta-ed by MusicPrincess655, love you babe, you're amazing~

Yuuri and Viktor’s path had been long and grueling. The process of adoption was a complicated one, one that seemed specifically designed to stop any prospective parents from actually going through with it. It had taken months and months of paper-work and interviews and house-visits, but finally, it was done. The two fresh parents could barely believe it as they were pulling up into the driveway of their house, this time together with the newest member of their family.

 

_(that’s a lie; they were hyper-aware of the fact that it was true, and more than a little nervous about the fact that wow, they were parents now, it was done, how had that happened, just when had everything changed and holy fuck how are parents supposed to act) ___

__

__The whole drive had been silent, as they weren’t certain how exactly to cut through the thick layer of apprehension that the kid was giving off in waves. He was ten years old - most kids his age never really got adopted, since couples always prefered to raise younger children. In their case, though, that was part of the reason why they’d both felt such a strong pull towards him. Ever since they’d first met the boy, they had both known that they would fight through any laws and any system workers in order to be able to adopt him. Finding out about his previous upbringing had only served to cement that determination._ _

__

__In the backseat of the car, Yuri was staring decidedly out the window, apprehensive and weary. He refused to acknowledge his new guardians for as long as he could possibly avoid it. He hadn’t said a word to them during all the months of the adoption process, and he was determined to keep it that way. Silence was good - it was safe._ _

__

__They’d been driving for about 30 minutes already, and he knew that they should be getting close to their destination by now, which was his biggest concern. From now on, this would be the place where he would spend the following period of his life, with these two people as his new guardians - and god only knew how his life would be there._ _

.

__5 minutes later, they arrived._ _

__

__The house was not a particularly big one. It was cozy, though, and obviously well kept. From the small trinkets all around to the different colored blankets and pillows all around the living room, to the scratches on the wooden floor and door-frame and the half-open door of the storage room, filled with boxes over boxes overflowing with contents not visible through the darkness, everything about this house felt warm and lived in._ _

__

__Yuri was currently in the kitchen. He’d been given a serving of food almost as soon as they’d arrived - katsudon, they’d called it, whatever the hell that was, and now he was taking slow bites as he was inspecting the place. There were coffee rings on the table that seemed nearly engraved into the surface of the wood by now. On the window sill there were a few different scented candles. The curtains were drawn, shielding the inhabitants of the house from the view of the snow storm outside, but not managing to shield Yuri from his worried thoughts._ _

__

__He’d been left alone in the kitchen to eat while the other two had left the room, no doubt talking about him - probably about his living conditions here. That was exactly what Yuri was weary about; he hadn’t been told anything yet. He was completely unaware of his standing, and that was dangerous. Before anything could go wrong, he needed to find out exactly what their angle was, exactly where not to step out of line._ _

__

__Despite being hungry, he had no appetite. He placed down his fork, unable to finish the serving he’d been given, intent on figuring things out as soon as possible - angry that they were already making things this hard for him. He walked decidedly towards the door to the hallway, instead, and before he could back down, he slammed it open, making his presence highly known._ _

__

__He could tell by their slight jumps that he’d managed to effectively startle them - they were actually standing in the hallway just outside the kitchen, what the hell - and he forced down a wave of apprehension and weariness. This wasn’t the time to be afraid - not yet. Instead he stared insistently up at them from under his fringe, defiantly, wordlessly daring them to stay silent._ _

__

__“Uhh… are you finished already?” the one with the glasses - Yuuri, his name was Yuuri, his mind insisted, bringing up just how awkward it was that they shared a name - smiled uncertainly, and Yuri had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Starting off by stating the obvious. Amazing. Give the man a round of applause. “We should take you to your room then. We already moved your stuff in there, since you didn’t really have much…”_ _

__

__“That’s fine!” Viktor cut in happily - honestly, did that man ever stop smiling? “We can all go out and get you new stuff. You can make your room however you want it~” he dragged off the sentence almost like a song, and while it wasn’t apparent to the 10 year old, Yuuri could tell that his husband had felt the tense mood and was trying his hardest to make things feel a bit easier between all three of them._ _

__

___’Not likely.’_ Yuri thought bitterly in response to the previous statement, without voicing the thought. If there had been one thing he’d learned in his life, it was that everything always came with a price. Always. The only thing that ever really changed was what exactly the price was, and that was the one thing he needed to know if he wanted to survive in one place - he’d learned that the hard way._ _

__

__Which made it all the more annoying and confusing that even as they began leading him to his new bedroom upstairs, they hadn’t told him anything along those lines._ _

__

__“You can take your time to get comfortable.” The room was nothing out of the ordinary, with off-white walls, and basic furnishing, as well as his few belongings placed on the floor a bit away from the entrance. The couple was now a few steps behind him, Viktor’s left arm around his husband’s waist while they were holding hands with his right - and oh god they were one of those pda couples who were way too comfortable with each other, Yuri realised and almost gagged. Instead he just nodded his acknowledgement to Yuuri’s statement._ _

__

__“If you need anything, we’ll be downstairs. If there’s anything we don’t have then we can all go shopping tomorrow so feel free to tell us.” All three of them knew he wouldn’t, but Yuuri felt like it needed stating anyway. ‘We want to take care of you’ is what he wanted to say._ _

__

__Instead he stayed silent as the blonde kept looking up at them as if he was expecting something._ _

__

__Viktor smiled gently down at the boy. “Yuri.” both directed his attention to the man. “For what it counts, we’re both really happy that you’re here.”_ _

__

__Neither one of them said anything more, for which the blonde was grateful. They just kept smiling at him in that warm, infuriating way, leaving him alone to ‘get comfortable’._ _

__

__Finally, Yuri closed the door to his room. He looked at his things on the floor and figured he might as well put them in their paces, get everything in order _before_ he began thinking about everything. He absentmindedly grabbed his few possessions, moving around to place them in their proper places, holding on to one single object as he was done. He tried ignoring that feeling that had taken over all over his upper body, that twisting in his stomach - but he knew it to be fear, and ignoring fear never made it better._ _

__

__He sat down on the made bed hesitantly. The sheets were a light red, and the frame was made out of mahogany, contrasting the light color of the walls. A small gasp left his lips as he felt the soft fabric of the sheets with his hands, and he gave in to the urge to lay down on the comfortable mattress. And he thought._ _

__

__Yurio was, in fact, terrified. His hands sook as he gripped the object he had held onto tighter, bringing it up to level with his eyes. A folded piece of paper, of a considerable size, but obviously crumpled and slightly ripped. He unfolded it - his one prized possession, looking fondly yet wearily at the contents._ _

__

__He swallowed._ _

__

__His expression slowly morphed, eyebrows furrowing, the corners of his lips pulling down, and eventually he shut his eyes tightly together as pain took over his face and he moved the frail paper sheet away, placed it onto the nightstand. His world started spinning even though he was still lying down, and he brought his hands to hide his face, whispering continuously to himself that he’s not going to cry, he’s not going to cry, he’s _not going_ to fucking _cry_._ _

__

___(He did.)_ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“You know, for a second there, I was certain I’d only adopted one child I had to take care of.” Viktor jolted._
> 
>  
> 
> _Bulls eye._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a while to get this chapter out because I've been busy with exams, but it's longer so I hope that somewhat makes up for it. 
> 
> Anyway, that said, I wanna thank ButterflyCrossing and SryaEvermist for looking over the chapter for me and stopping me from writing even longer sentences than I currently have. Shirin I do hope you like the waking up scene~
> 
>  
> 
> _Psst SryaEvermist doesn't have anything posted here, but y'all should check out her RP blog @katsupurity on tumblr._
> 
>  
> 
> Also, as always, MusicPrincess655 had the final word in beta reading this chapter and making it presentable. Babe you're honestly amazing. Y'all should really check her out, she writes a lot and she's awesome.
> 
> Also, I made a writing blog. If you wanna keep up with possible updates on my progrss with my fanfics, then maybe consider following me @i-write-midnight-snaks on tumblr ^^

Yuri had yet to leave his room by the time evening came around. He’d wasted the day away laying in bed half asleep, never letting himself completely lose awareness of his surroundings. He was always ready to spring into action at any time.

 

Viktor and Yuuri had told him to come downstairs whenever he felt like it, but Yuri wasn’t going to poke a sleeping dragon with a stick just to see what would happen - if they wanted anything from him, they could call for him. Of course, the boy had a habit of jinxing himself, so it wasn’t a surprise that soon enough, there was a knock at his door, breaking his short-lived peace. 

“Yuri? Can I come in?”

Yuri blinked. He parted his lips slightly, before running his tongue over them in an unconscious nervous gesture. However, he caught himself before he could speak, and instead of saying a word the boy stood up from his bed. He made his way hesitantly to the door to open it. Before he could finish the movement, however, he spared himself one fleeting second. His eyes drifted over to the bedside table, ensuring that the picture was facing down.

Viktor was standing a short distance away, enough that he wasn’t right up in Yuri’s face once the door was moved aside, no longer providing a barrier between the two of them. The younger boy hesitantly looked up at the other, meaning to assess his guardian’s disposition before he could accidentally make a wrong move.

To his surprise, Viktor was wearing that same gentle smile he’d been wearing earlier that day. 

“We just wanted to let you know that dinner’s almost ready,” the man announced. “It’s maybe a few more minutes, so you can come downstairs soon.”

Deciding that the statement required no verbal response, Yuri simply nodded. Viktor waited for only a few more seconds before he seemed to accept that no other answer would come. He hesitated for a second, his face tightening awkwardly as if he wanted to say something more, shifting his body away from Yuri and back again. His smile dropped, he parted his lips, then he smiled again. Eventually he just gave the boy a nod and turned away, walking back down the hallway and out of sight. Yuri sighed. He was safe for now; however, the smell of cooked food had wafted into his room through the opened door.He knew he would be walking downstairs sooner rather than later, having only had a few bites of that katsudon thing to eat before.

 

Bracing himself, he walked out into the hall after Viktor, tracing his steps back towards the kitchen. His fingers trailed along the wall as he walked slowly, remembering the gritty texture, noticing the dirty spots where somebody had no doubt held onto the corners as they walked around them. The smell of the food, now stronger, felt vaguely familiar to the boy, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He walked slowly, not eager to walk into the tiger’s den but nonetheless wanting to eat, until he eventually reached the door he’d been on the other side of only a few hours prior. He hesitated, stopped for a second. He knew he’d eventually go in, though, so instead of prolonging the inevitable, he pushed the door open.

He probably should have taken that last opportunity to back out of it before actually walking in. What greeted Yuri upon opening the door was the strong smell of borscht, and the sight of his new guardians making out in the middle of the kitchen. He was this close to slamming the door and walking away from the cringe-worthy scene, but he didn’t want to take the risk of not getting any more food that day. Instead, he schooled his expression into a neutral one and made his way to the table. The two idiots shared a smile with each other before parting, and he was joined at the table by Yuuri as Viktor remained to plate each of their servings. Yuri fixed his eyes onto the table to avoid locking gazes with the other man.

“I hope you like your room,” Yuuri said. “Viktor mentioned it to you earlier, but we thought we could go shopping for some new things for you. I… have practice in the morning, but we can go see some stores together in the evening.” He paused there, probably waiting for Yuri to give some sort of answer, and he had to consider - what were the ups and downs, what was the right answer to give? How much would he have to make up for later? Was he even allowed to say no? Clenching his fists in his lap, he gave a nod, missing the relieved smile on Yuuri’s face.

 

“Here you go~” Viktor sang. He had a way of moving around the kitchen, almost as if he was dancing, his movements fluid and graceful, his posture confident, looking perfectly at ease even as he was balancing three plates on his arms like an actual professional. He walked to the table with light but certain steps, setting one plate down for Yuri before sitting next to his husband. He kissed the top of Yuuri’s head like the too-sappy, grossly in love husband he was, placing their own servings on the table before them.

Yuri pulled the plate closer to him, distracting himself momentarily with the food, sparing only a fleeting thought to the fact that he’d have to start keeping track of everything they were giving him. 

 

“So anyway, we’ll both have to go to the ice rink tomorrow, and we were wondering if you want to come with us, or if you’d rather stay home.”

His head shot up, eyes leaving the table for the first time since sitting down. He wasn’t sure which part of that inquiry had been more shocking to him, but he found himself swallowing down against the surfacing anxiety. His eyes shot from Viktor’s easy smile to Yuuri’s expectant gaze, back and forth, desperate to find something that would help him get the right answer, but too much time was passing and they were waiting for an answer already and good god he needed to say something already before-

“I’m fine either way.” _He really wanted to go to the rink, actually._

He noticed both their eyes widening and for a short, horrifying second, his body went cold. Yuri thought that he’d said something wrong. Then, slowly, their expressions started melting away from shock into a pair of warm smiles, and it hit him. That was the first time they’d ever heard him speak. He swallowed once again, feeling embarrassed, and turned back to his food, not without a scowl. 

Surprisingly enough, dinner was silent from that point on. Soon enough, all of them were finished with their food, even though Yuri only managed to eat just over half of his serving. He sat up to grab the plates, but they were swiped from before him faster than he could finish the movement, and he looked up in complete confusion as Yuuri took them to the sink. He blinked, standing straight. He looked once at the Japanese man, looked around him, at the kitchen, at his new guardians, taking everything in as if he was seeing it all for the first time, taking everything in all over again. As he did, Viktor came to stand a few feet from him, looking down at him with careful patience written all over his expression as he waited for Yuri to get his bearings.

Eventually, he spoke. 

 

“We were going to watch a movie together this evening,” he explained. “It’s what we usually do when we have our evenings free. We enjoy watching pretty much anything, so if there’s anything you’d like to see, just let us know ok?” He smiled. Yuri was this close to snorting in disbelief, but he stopped himself. Instead he nodded, taking a second to make sure that his face was still showing his well-practiced mask of neutrality.

Still, he let himself be led and walked after the other man into the living room he’d seen before. He stood, unsure where to sit once he found himself in the centre of the room. He noticed that Viktor was heading towards the couch, and moved awkwardly to sit in one of the table chairs, hoping it would all be over soon so that he could finally retreat back to his room. Viktor was already fiddling with the remote, and Yuri was vaguely wondering what they would be watching.

Maybe minutes later, the Japanese Yuuri finally came over from cleaning up in the kitchen, seating himself next to his husband. 

 

“Don’t you want to sit over here?” the man tilted his head at Yuri. “It’s more comfortable than the chairs.”

Yuri shrugged in reply, not particularly minding either way. The two adults seemed to wait for a few seconds before, once more, realizing no further answer was forthcoming. Yuri tensed for several seconds when he heard one of them sigh - sigh in what, anger? Frustration? Annoyance? Eventually though, he relaxed as the two adults made themselves more comfortable, and Viktor pressed some button on the remote, one that had the TV finally playing the movie that had been waiting for the last few minutes.

To Yuri’s surprise, he found himself watching a cartoon.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuuri had already been almost awake for several minutes, yet his mind was drifting, nearly asleep but not quite, coherent thoughts far out of reach. His head felt heavy, as if the entire weight of the ocean was resting inside his body and pulling him down. He was so, so tempted to go back to sleep, to sink into the soft mattress and pillows, to give into the gentle smell encompassing him when it felt like too much effort to even open his eyelids. There was a familiar warm chest pressing against his back, and it felt warm against the slivers of cold he could feel waiting just outside, and he just wanted to sleep. Yet there was something - an annoying light behind his eyelids that wouldn’t let him completely give in to unconsciousness. He groaned, burying back into the comforting warmth, no matter how much it weighed him down. He didn’t fall back asleep though.

_Something_

There was something

_...exciting_

 

Something he had to remember even though all he wanted was to _fucking sleep_. Something that felt important yesterday. Was there anything important? His mind was trying to convince him that something had changed and he needed to remember, and he was still being gripped by sleep but somewhere there was a little rush of residual excitement that had him wanting to remember what had seemed so important, so special yesterday -

 _Yuri._  
The child.  
He had a child-  
-they had a child.

He had to wake up, to remember, to make sure that it was in fact true, and not one of those dreams that felt so real at these hours of the morning.

Breathe.

Now think for fuck’s sake. You were at the orphanage. _His head felt like lead and every memory took an immense effort to recall, but it was all there._ The woman was pursing her lips as they were signing the paper. The child. Making borscht - wait no, backtrack - the orphanage, the drive home.

 

Was the child - yeah, he was there, with them in the car! Eating together, the evening - all of it, true memories as opposed to simple delusions, waking up a little more with every memory as they pushed away the fog settling in his thoughts, and he finally opened his eyes, the most content smile on his face as he thought once again that _they had a son now_.

He shifted. 

 

“Don’t go… It’s cold outside”

 

Yuuri snickered. For someone who’d spent the better part of his life on frozen water, you would think he would be used to the cold.

However, as opposed to popular opinion, Viktor was, in fact, a child. 

 

“So you were awake.” His tone was close to a whisper, not wanting to break the peaceful silence of the morning. “Come on, we have to get up.”

“Nnnh, nooo…” A _whiny_ child. “It’s cold and bad outside… stay in beeed…”

Yuuri rolled his eyes fondly, not straining to look over his shoulder at his husband. 

 

“We have practice, Vitya. Come on, I’ll even make you coffee.” The arms tightened around him, and he had to admit that it was tempting to stay in his husband’s embrace.

“No.”

He huffed. 

 

“You know, for a second there, I was certain I’d only adopted one child I had to take care of.” Viktor jolted.

Bulls eye.

 

Viktor froze for a few seconds as he no doubt went through the same mental process as Yuuri had.

“We… Yuri…” he trailed off, seeming to Yuuri as if he wasn’t able to decide on what emotion to settle. “We… did say we would take him to the rink today, huh. We should probably get there on time then.” Eventually he let out a chuckle, the sudden realisation of their new status as a family seeming to wake Viktor up much as it had done with Yuuri just a few minutes before. His hold on his husband loosened slightly, and Yuuri gave his hands a gentle squeeze before disentangling himself completely and sitting up on the edge of their shared bed. A soft smile was settling onto his face as he watched Viktor, who was normally so elegant and in control, struggling to wake up and get his body to listen to him. A side of his husband that, even to this day, only he ever got to know.

He watched on even as his mind drifted further, remembering more details of yesterday’s events. He remembered the awkward tension surrounding them whenever they were sharing a space with the child, and despite their best efforts, Yuuri knew that it would take a while before they would even be able to distill the tenseness of the boy. They had both been wary of adopting a child with his difficult past, but they had also both known that there was no other choice for them. Not when they had felt the first pull towards the child as soon as they’d seen him, not after they’d learned of his past, not once realising that Yuri had never received the love he had deserved and that there was nothing they wanted more than to offer it to him in heaps and bounds. They had both immediately felt the same urge to protect the child, and while they couldn’t pretend to know exactly how things would play out, they knew it wouldn’t be easy at all times. The hardships of trying to bring up not only a child who was already 10 years old and help him get used to a new family, but also one that came from an environment as awful as Yuri did, were already rearing their ugly heads, but they only made Yuuri more determined to make things right for the boy, whatever that would take.

He sighed. Of course, that was all jumping ahead of himself. He could monologue about that as much as he wanted, but the fact was that at this moment in time, Yuri wasn’t even willing to speak, the only words he had uttered seeming to have been a careless mistake, if the boy’s shocked face once he had spoken, last night during dinner, had been anything to go by.

Eventually, Yuuri moved to stand up. He needed to get changed, and he’d get Viktor to make breakfast one way or another, even if that meant dragging him down to the kitchen by the threat of sleeping on the couch for a week. He was about to speak up when he was interrupted mid-motion.

 

For a second, he froze, and so did his husband. He blinked as his mind registered the noise he’d heard. Something had fallen, something loud, and it had been shattered, if the sound was anything to go by.

Yuuri paled. One second later, he was already halfway out the door, still in his pajamas, Viktor on his tracks as he ran down the stairs and through the open door of the kitchen.

“Damn it, come on, come on, I can’t believe I- Oh god they’re here-” he heard Yuri muttering as he walked closer to him. There was a pan on the stove, sizzling, accompanied by the smells of what Yuuri recognised to be various breakfast foods laced together. The boy was kneeling next to the dining table, pan forgotten on the fire as he was moving frantically, muttering curses to himself and trying to gather from the floor what Yuuri belatedly realised to be shards from a plate.

Yuri was becoming more and more frantic, his words now jumbled together in a constant stream of whispers directed at himself, fingers trembling as they clasped around pointy shards, his breathing seeming to accelerate.

_‘Oh god, I fucked up, I fucked up, this is it I’m dead.’_

Yuuri quickly kneeled on the ground next to the boy, with Viktor not far behind, wanting nothing more than to stop the boy from hurting himself even more as he could already notice blood gathered at the tips of several of his fingers, as well as the very familiar signs of an oncoming panic attack.

 _‘No, no, no, please, please, I’m sorry, I’m cleaning up, please don’t punish me, I’m sorry, I’m-’_ Yuri had no idea what was in his mind and what he was saying out loud, but he did know that he needed to hurry up, that he needed to clean up, to make up for fucking up now, before they got even more mad, he would get hurt, already he’d be hurt when all he wanted was to stay safe. His wrist was grabbed and he whined desperately, refusing to look up from the mess on the floor even as he was pulled up and away by his arms.

He had known it was coming but not this early, he hadn’t thought it would be this early, he’d done his best too, yet he still didn’t even understand even though it had been a day already, and now he’d be hurt and oh god-

A tap was turned on somewhere close and he flinched for only a second. 

 

“Yuri! Yuri, listen to me. It’s ok, Yuri. It’s ok, look, you’re fine. Calm down. We aren’t mad, Yuri. You’re safe. Calm down. Please Yuri, listen to me. Listen to me.”

The voice sounded close enough to him to hang onto it. It was gentle, if firm, and he found himself clinging to the words, desperate to believe them. 

“That’s good Yuri. There you go. You can relax. You’re safe, Yuri. Relax. Breathe.” He listened by instinct more than anything as the voice started to walk him through the motions of breathing. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. The pattern was slow and repetitive, reassuring in it’s simple routine, and he slowly took in deeper breaths, feeling the air finally reaching his lungs, and his mind slowly clearing. The voice seemed to stop, but instead he felt hands, warm and gentle, holding onto his upper arms. He stayed like that. His eyes were closed, forcing his body to relax and feeding on the warmth of the hands even as he realised what had just happened.

He took one final, shuddery breath.

He was still in disarray, scrambled pieces of thought floating around his mind, only half-formed, some more prominent than others; questions, memories, worries, fear, but only one mattered.

_he’d had a panic attack in front of them_

Resigning himself to whatever was waiting for him, Yuri finally opened his eyes.

It took him a few seconds to register that there was neither anger nor annoyance on the the faces of his two guardians, who were both kneeling a short distance before him, having let go of his arms sometime in the last few minutes. Rather than anything he was expecting, the two seemed to wear matching expressions of concern, of all things.

He gulped, trying to get his bearings back, and looking down to clear his head. 

 

“I… sorry…” he mumbled, not sure which of his fuck-ups he was even apologising for.

“Can you stand?” Viktor asked him after a few seconds, and it came to Yuri that it was the other one of his guardians who had talked him through his panic attack. He nodded in response, pushing himself up onto shaky legs. “You should drink some water. Here.” A glass was held out to him, and he accepted it silently, downing its contents in seconds. He took another deep breath. His heart was still beating harder than normal, but it was getting better as he got himself to relax.

“Yuri?” He looked up, nearly meeting Yuuri’s eyes through his fringe as acknowledgements of his words. “Can I take a look at your hands? You’re hurt.”

He frowned. Setting the glass down on the table next to him, the boy raised his hands up to examine them, only just noticing the sting in his fingers along with the red gashes across his fingertips.

“Oh,” he intoned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >   
>  _Yuri banged his head back onto the table._
>> 
>> _They were children._
>> 
>> _Actual fucking children._   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the thing is??  
> A lot more was going to happen this chapter.  
> I wanted to reach a certain point in the story with this chapter, but I got stuck at around 3k words and I didn't want to go that long without posting anything more, so I figured I'd just. Split this into two and post what I can. There isn't much going on in this chapter; really, it's just a bit of domesticity with Yuuri and Viktor and a look into what they'll hopefully grow into as a family. Next chapter is what I was actually hoping to get into since the start of this fic, and I'll try to have that out as soon as possible since I already have the first 1k writen for it.  
> But well. For now just. Have this and hopefully it'll make up for last chapter ^^;;;

Yuri had fucked up.

That was the only thing he could focus on as he was sitting awkwardly on the lid of the toilet, a first aid kit laid open on the ground to the side. The sting of his wounds was a mere afterthought behind the turmoil of worry and resignation that took residence in the forefront of his mind.

He had fucked up. He had, and he was still no closer than he had been to understanding his guardians or his position.

Yuuri - the japanese Yuuri, his guardian - was sitting in front of him, holding onto his right hand and cleaning his wounded fingers. The sting from the disinfectant got gradually stronger until he had to bite into his bottom lip to prevent himself from making a sound. He tried to focus on something else, anything other than the worry that was already clouding his mind.

Yuuri was focused on the boy’s hands, looking down as he dressed the cuts - really, they could hardly be considered serious wounds; there was no need to fret that much over such minor cuts, Yuri thought. Nonetheless, he made the best of the situation. For the first time, with the man’s attention focused on something else, he had the chance to look at Yuuri - to _really look_ at him. So he did. He took in every detail of Yuuri’s face, all the clearer from such proximity.

Everything about his face was soft. Yuri had known as much, but had never seen it in such detail before. There was something youthful about his traits, in the same way most asian people tended to look young compared to other nationalities. He was all rounded lines, soft edges and full cheeks, yet slim and beautiful. It was, frankly, unfair.

Still, what seemed to define him most were his eyes; large and gentle, the brown color added to their softness. But, more importantly, despite his still rather young age, Yuri could already see the beginnings of smile lines forming around the corners of his eyes, coupled, surprisingly, with wrinkles from worry around his eyebrows.

Yuri frowned.

“There, all done.” Yuuri -Katsuki- broke him from his thoughts suddenly as he began gathering the supplies and standing up from his position. That, at least, gave Yuri enough time to duck his head before he was caught staring. “We should clean those cuts again later today, just be careful with them for now.” Yuri thought the man’s voice sounded like he was smiling, but he didn’t check to make sure. He merely nodded in response, gathering his courage to mumble out a ‘thank you’.

“Come on.” Katsuki - _yea, it made more sense to think of him that way_ \- said, stopping in place for a second as if he changed his mind in the middle of a motion, and Yuri wondered, only for a second, what he had meant to do. The thought was soon discarded though, as Katsuki kept talking. “Since we’re going to the ice rink today, you should try to eat your fill for breakfast, ok?”

Yuri startled. With everything else, he’d completely forgotten about the fleeting promise made the previous day during dinner, the moment swept away, overshadowed by the weight of other, less pleasant thoughts that had been circling in his mind the entire time. What was more odd, though - he had fully expected them to forget about it, too; to discard any thoughts of the unnecessary burden of a random promise made to him of all people.

Even now he had to fight against the flare of hope that wanted to surface, had to stomp it out before it got out of hand; because while he wasn’t quite ready to accept that they would just do that for him, take him skating for no reason while expecting nothing in exchange, he couldn’t help himself from looking forward to it.

Yuuri Katsuki had already turned away to put away the first aid kit he’d used, and Yuri took that chance to leave without being stared at as he walked away; without having his back completely exposed.

He walked back to the kitchen in silence for the second time that morning. He was aware of the sound of Katsuki’s footsteps several seconds behind him. He was also aware that Viktor was probably still in the kitchen where he was heading right now. He just didn’t know what to do with this knowledge.

And true to his expectations, there the man was, placing down a few plates of food just in time for Katsuki to arrive behind him. Viktor took a few seconds to notice Yuri standing awkwardly in the doorway, but when he did he faced the boy, his entire body turning to him in a smooth motion, his every movement filled with a grace and purpose that Yuri could only hope to achieve. 

“Are you feeling better?” the man asked, smiling. “I hope you feel up to eating. I heated up some of the borscht from yesterday, since we’re running late. I hope that’s ok with both of you.”

Besides him, Katsuki smiled. “That’s fine, Vitya.” he walked past Yuri to embrace his husband, and the two held each other close for several seconds. Yuri stood to the side awkwardly. He was genuinely baffled about how the hell two people could possibly be so in love and mushy all the damn time.

He sat on one of the chairs, waiting for his guardians to join him eventually, which they did, holding hands as they sat a lot closer together than was strictly necessary - really, they were basically pressed into each other. Why even bother sitting in different chairs, when they might as well had been in each other’s laps for all their closeness?

Whatever. It was not Yuri’s place to question them. He turned his attention to his food instead. He decided that it was too tiring, too draining to try and make sense of all their actions and thoughts. Instead, he ate. Or at least, that was the plan.

“Oh, it’s done!” Viktor stated suddenly, standing up from his heat in another graceful motion. He turned to the stove, and Yuri only now became aware of the boiling kettle. Viktor was pulling out three mugs from an overhead cupboard, before turning his attention to the kettle and turning off the fire. He then opened another cupboard, filled to the brim for Yuri’s eyes to see with all types of tea as well as jars of jam - a lot of them.

“Yuri, is there any type of tea you’d like?” he questioned as he already set about preparing two of the mugs of tea. “We have almost any type, so whatever you like is fine.” he continues, looking back over his shoulder to give the boy a carefree smile.

“Really, my Yuura likes to pretend that green tea is the only _real_ tea and the only type he will ever deem to drink, but he’s actually the one who always buys five new flavours of tea every single time we go shopping, so we’ve got more than enough.”

“Victor!” The man in question whined, turning around in his seat to frown stubbornly at his husband. “I do not! I mean it when I say that I don’t get how you drink all those other things!”

“Yes, yes.” Viktor laughed. “And that’s why we’ve got an entire pantry full of tea flavours that we never finish.”

Yuri watched this interaction with conflicted emotions. Eventually, he found the occasion to step in for a second, only to add in the meek comment that “Any flavour is fine…”

Unexplainably, both men smiled at him at that comment. He saw Viktor picking out one of the boxes from its precarious perk on top of the abundant supply, and placing a tea bag in the third and final mug. He couldn’t make out what flavour the man had picked for him, nor did he strain too much. Finally, Viktor poured the hot water into the mugs, covering all of them with small saucer plates. He brought the mugs to the table with two trips, not without leaning in to leave a kiss on Katsuki’s head, and Yuri felt himself inwardly gag at the lovestruck smile that took over Katsuki’s face at that.

Eventually, they were all seated once again, and Yuri thought he would finally be able to eat in peace. Unfortunately the universe once again had other plans. If he had thought that his guardians’ relationship was gross and sweet, he hadn’t seen anything yet, because, as it turned out, Viktor liked _everything_ to be gross and sweet. Such had Yuri learned through the painful experience of watching the man stir an entire spoonful of jam into his own tea.

He recoiled.

Yuuri -Katsuki, merely gave him a knowing look at that, with nothing more than a subtle wince at his husband’s display.

“I feel the same way you do, trust me.” he said, appealing to Yuri as if he was glad to finally have someone backing him up in this opinion; which frankly, Yuri didn’t fault him for, because that was just vile and he regretted having ever witnessed it in the first place. “I’ve been trying to get him out of the habit for a long time. Not like I’ve got nothing to use against him, since he never even gains any weight.” he finished his statement with a sigh and a resentful, if teasing, look in his husband’s direction.

As for Viktor, he was just licking away any of the excess jam from his spoon when he stopped to pout in Katsuki’s direction. “Yuura!” he whined, “You know this is how I always had it in Russia! I don’t get what the problem is.” he crossed his arms, looking for the whole world like a pouting child, as opposed to a fully grown, married, 5-times-figure-skating-world-championship-gold-medalist adult, and Yuri had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Hey! You always try to have Katsudon, too.”

Yuuri gasped, scandalized in a way only someone who was grossly overplaying it could be. “I do not! I have been watching my weight very closely, if you’d care to know, and I made sure to stay fit all through the season!”

Viktor grinned at his husband. Yuri froze. Oh no.

Oh no.

He did _not_ need to be witness to their flirting. He had to get the fuck out of there, holy hell.

“As your coach, I’m afraid I can’t simply take your word, not when my dear student’s career is on the line!” he brought the back of his palm to his forehead, leaning back dramatically. “I could never forgive myself if I didn’t make sure. If you’d care to give a demonstration, I’d be more inclined to believe you~.”

There it was.

Of course.

The flirting.

Yuri dropped his head on the table.

This was his life now.

He didn’t need to look up to know that Viktor was being smug or that Katsuki was blushing. It was written in their auras.

“Viktor! You know that I go to great lengths to keep fit!”

“Hmm, I don’t know, Yuuri~! That’s not what my arms felt last friday during lift practice.”

“That’s just because you’ve been slacking on your core training since you retired.” Katsuki huffed, and Yuri spared the two a glance. It was Viktor’s turn to look scandalized as Katsuki turned his back to him, crossing his arms.

Yuri banged his head back onto the table.

They were children. 

Actual fucking children.

Fucking amazing.

This was just his luck.

Whatever.

He focused on his food.

That was their problem. At the very least, the fact that he was being ignored was something he could hold on to. While not pleasant, it was something he was used to - even comfortable with.

At the very least, as long as he was ignored, he was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, please check out my tumblr if you have a minute. I could really use more trafic there, especially since it makes it easier to keep up updates of how my progress is going and other info, as well as help me get a bit more exposure. 
> 
>  
> 
> [@i-write-midnight-snacks](https://i-write-midnight-snacks.tumblr.com/)


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